Jimmy Luong, L.A. Ecstasy Kingpin, Gets 22 Years Behind Bars

I say LA Weekly replace Romero with ^^THIS GUY.  Romero you really s hit the bed on this one buddy. 

Meth is not a component of ecstasy. Sometimes there are pills that are cut with meth but it is not a part of every pill. And the last sentence...it should say "pop" not "drop." Get your lingo correct Mr. Romero. And why don't you open up an AP style book while you are at it. 

Wow so sad, what happens when friendly fun gets invaded by the heartless/ sadistic LA teenagers and turned to a drug-fueled million dollar franchise. The music is repetitive and brain washing. Mdma should have been man's door knob to the brains unknown instead of a guilty pleasure and schedule 1 controlled substance. Nothing will be the same.

LOL.

8=============D

what the fuck at the last commmmmmmmment shut the fuck up 

 "meth is a component of ecstasy"

This is extremely misleading. 

Some "ecstasy" pills contain methamphetamine, but this is not desirable and these are known as "adulterated" pills. MDMA (the original ingredient in ecstasy pills) is not meth and is actually much less harmful than meth.Here's some facts about MDMA for the idiots:

* Overdoses on MDMA are extremely rare. Actual deaths from MDMA use are almost non-existent, around 3 - 10 deaths per 15 million uses. Compare this to tobacco which causes 6 deaths per 10 uses (400,000 deaths per year in the USA) or alcohol which causes between 50,000 and 100,000 deaths a year in the USA.

* MDMA does not cause holes in your brain. This is completely false government propaganda which has been scientifically disproven over and over again. MDMA may cause some slight neurotixicity though, so it's best to use it in moderation.* Only a very small percentage of MDMA users experience addiction, unlike alcohol, tobacco, heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine where a high percentage of users become addicted.* MDMA may have many medical uses, such as in therapy for people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It is currently in stage II human trials for treatment of PTSD.

meth is not a component of mdma these guys need to do some research and not try and make the drug sound worse to sell papers

This article is retarded and blatantly tells lies.  She didn't die from overdose, she died from complications that resulted from being dehydrated, among other things.

So i realized hopeless Romero has a job as STAFF writer for LA Weekly simply due to the discussions between the informed and ignorant that take place on his blog, as well as the ones who state the inadequacy of the article....wonder what it feels like to just be slammed on every article you write

Since when is there a non-shady drug dealer? "...possession of an illicit, custom-made assault rifle." Instead of bitching, Yousuck, how about you rewrite the article to make it 'valid'. And who has a job writing for the LA Weekly Blog? Not you, twatwaffle.

Does the MDMA Israel manufactures count or not?

It is not humanly possible to die of an MDMA 'overdose'.. Do your research. Clearly she wasn't consuming pure MDMA or she died of something resulting from unresponsible rolling like dehydration or hypothermia. 'ecstasy' is not the problem.. 15 year olds being allowed into EDC and sketchy people making shitty drugs which are mistaken for MDMA by idiots without testing kits are. Kthx

A really good article will provide the reader, unique, insightful and relevant facts, important past and present details, several points of view, and most of all it's author will remain neutral about the content. This article would have been much better if you had left out the "shady" comment.

We shouldn't be arguing over semantics here. The issue is WHY it is illegal. I put something into my body, that's my free will. I'm not hurting anybody. Why are YOU telling ME that I can't do something when it has no effect on YOU whatsoever except make you jealous that you're not having beautiful women gyrating against your body? Dont be mad homie.

Seriously just legalize it. It sucks that a 15 year old died, but to say that is sufficient cause to ban ecstasy is ridiculous.

@ba02d4445167cd870a334f5f9815b399:disqus  Dennis Romero Why are you even allowed to write material for the LA weekly? Terrible reporter.

I am a 27 years old doctor,mature and beautiful. and now i am seeking a good man who can give me real love, so i got a sername Andromeda2002 on  Agedate.СòM, a nice and free place for younger women and older men,or older women and younger men, to interact with each other.Maybe you wanna check out or tell your friends.

first off dont let your 15 year old daughter go dumb ass

"So the next time you drop...", that sentence was pretty condescending, are you trolling?

Also, regurgitating press releases is not cool, please do not do that again. It represents a  laziness that befits a high schooler trying to weasel out of their writing assignment, not a journalist.

(Meth is a component of Ecstasy, though it's not clear to us if that was the point, or if the speed manufacturing was a sideline.)

BULLSHIT, meth is NOT a component of Ecstasy, and then at the end, you turn it around and say he was manufacturing speed, so which is it, METHAMPHETAMINE, or AMPHETAMINE?

This is a horrible article... 

that ONE girl is reported dead, and our government invests how many thousands of dollars into putting this guy behind bars? That money could have gone into education systems, supplied books, financial aid...more useful things. Maybe we should re-think cars, fast food, sports, LIVING IN GENERAL, ~ since all of the above individually sum up much higher death tolls. And if your concerned about your childs' well being, I would suggest EDUCATING them about drugs, not pretending they don't exist and trying to remove all of the substances from our country (that's not going to happen). If people want to do drugs, let them, no one is forcing you to do/not do drugs, I thought this was a FREE COUNTRY. And again, if your so concerned about loosing a loved one to drug abuse, or drug overdose, you should again recall that was their educated/uneducated decision. Get educated and worry about your own business! Idiots. 

This story combines poor research with appalling bias. Fuck the war on drugs, lets have a war on crappy writing.

Disclaimer- I have never consumed MDMA, Ecstasy, E, Molly, or any variation of an MDXX or other schedule I amphetamine.

I am simply somebody who is interested in pharmacology and the drug war, and had this article show up on my Facebook feed. While reading through the comments, I was alarmed by the amount of ignorance in the Facebook comment thread, but dismissed it due to the fact that you are bound to find a lot of misinformed people, especially among drug abusing (note- abusing, not using) party kids.

However, I was far more alarmed by the actual article presented here, and Dennis Romero's ignorance. As a professional reporter, it is his responsibility to get the facts and information out to the readers in an informative and entertaining fashion. While the article is definitely entertaining, it fails to offer the reader any real facts about MDMA, and therefore cannot be considered informative, either.

Here are a few statements from Romero's article that are factually incorrect or grossly misleading (I will respond to all of them at once, following the list):

1. "(Meth is a component of ecstasy, though it's not clear to us if that was the point, or if the speed manufacturing was a sideline)."

2. "The bust came the same summer 15-year-old Sasha Rodriguez died from an ecstasy overdose after she attended the controversial Electric Daisy Carnival rave, a connection that didn't go unnoticed by U.S. Attorney in L.A. André Birotte Jr."

3. "So the next time you drop, kiddies, think about the kind of shady people it took to get that pill to your tongue."

(Keep in mind, the following info is all easily found on Wikipedia, google searches, and in scientific journals.)

To start this off, you need to understand what MDMA (shorthand for Methylenedioxymethamphetamine) actually is. It is an amphetamine drug known for its ability to induce empathy. When it first came into prominence, it was used as a therapeutic drug for treating PTSD by psychiatrists, before it became popular as a recreational drug. Users, consuming 100-150milligrams recreationally, would experience mental stimulation, a feeling of energy and well-being, and the aforementioned empathy. In fact, the original street name for the drug was "Empathy", shortened to E, and later expanded to Ecstasy in later years (following its prohibition). After coming to attention, it was quickly Scheduled and prohibited by the US government as a substance with no medical value, despite previous uses in therapy.

Due to the drug's prior popularity, this pushed manufacturing underground, and into the hands of illicit dealers and manufacturers. Once relegated to the black market, dealers realized that they could "cut" the MDMA with other drugs, and most of their consumers would not be aware of the difference.  This led to many pills being cut with questionable designer drugs with no history of use or safety profile, dextromethorphoan, caffeine, other amphetamines, and meth- all of which are more easily available and safer to procure (relative to the punishment from law enforcement) than MDMA or its precursor chemicals. Indeed, in recent years, the so-called "Ecstasy" tested and seized at festivals contained no MDMA whatsoever, therefore not actually qualifying as Ecstasy (unless you choose to use the term as a catch-all that means nothing).

Returning to MDMA and its effects, it is indeed noted as neurotoxic in frequent large doses, but has never shown any physiological or psychological damage when taken infrequently (1-2 times a year), and in moderate doses (the aforementioned 150mg). It is indeed possible to overdose on MDMA, but it would require taking doses well over a gram in a short timespan, and nobody actually knows what Ms. Rodriguez actually took- remember, Mr. Romero, you don't even know what MDMA is, let alone what was in the pills she took. Odds are Sasha Rodriguez did not overdose on MDMA, but instead on some unknown designer drug that was sold to her due to the prohibition that prevents safe, clearly labeled drugs to be distributed to people.

To get on my own personal soapbox here, if the government properly legalized and regulated MDMA for human consumption recreationally and therapeutically, we could eliminate these deaths, get the money out of the hands of drug dealers, and focus on legitimate threats, such as the violent criminal cartels pushing methamphetamine, weapons, and human trafficking. People don't buy drugs from criminals because they want to- they buy drugs from criminals because morons like Romero push lies to the public, and keep them in danger.

keep spreading ignorance, dunce j romero

"controversial Electric Daisy Carnival rave"

Whats controversial about it?Whats really controversial is how many times Dennis Romero gets laid....

Can you E-tards give full disclosure before you trash this article? Just so we know how many holes you are working with in your brain.